Thursday, February 18, 2010

2.18.2010 - News

HK Magazine: Hot Summer Days
I’ll tell you why the film is really enjoyable: Angelababy.
THR: Apart Together (Tuan Yuan)
Bottom Line: Drama about a family separated by civil war has universal resonance but skims over deeper historical and psychological trauma.
Screen Daily: Little Big Soldier
Compared with Jackie Chan’s usual frenetic extravaganzas, Little Big Soldier is almost low-key, a reflection on the pointlessness of war, even though reflections have not traditionally been action star Chan’s strong point.
Variety: Little Big Soldier
An "Odd Couple"-cum-martial-arts-road movie set some 2,000 years ago during the end of China's chaotic Warring States prior to unification, "Little Big Soldier" is a Jackie Chan vehicle without any surprises.
Far from the closeted capital of Asian anomie so often portrayed in Taiwanese fest fare, Taipei becomes a warm, romantic city, peopled with likeable oddballs, in Boston-born American Chinese Arvin Chen's immensely likable feature debut, "Au Revoir Taipei."
Formosa Betrayed: New movie ties Taiwan's messy politics to a Bay Area murder
Jay Chou can be an action star: Yuen Woo-ping
CRI: Jackie Chan Brings 'Soldier' to Berlin
Taipei Times: ‘Monga’ wins special incentives
Monga grossed more than NT$200 million at the box office during its first two weeks of release in Taiwan, entitling its producers to hefty incentives, said Chen Chih-kuan, director of the Government Information Office’s (GIO’s) Department of Motion Pictures, at a GIO reception in Berlin.
Chen said that under the government’s program of special incentives for the film industry, any locally produced movie with box office receipts exceeding NT$50 million entitles its makers to receive 20 percent of its revenues as a subsidy for the company’s next production.

HK Magazine: Paula Tsui interview

Actress Maggie Cheung Ho-Yee kicked out of boyfriend's home after split
The reason for their separation is rumoured to be Cheung's bad temper. Many said Tsang could not put up with Cheung's behaviour and ended their relationship.
Cheung's close friend claimed Cheung's bad temper could have been the result of the rare Grave's Disease which Cheung contracted five years ago. The autoimmune disease can result in an overactive thyroid which makes the sufferer irritable.
Michael Miu admits there was a 'third party' during marriage

Aaron Kwok 

Aaron Kwok attended New Year's festivities at Harbour City yesterday.

Jimmy Lai interviewed on CNN about animated news

4 comments:

Glenn, kenixfan said...

Hot Summer Days is the first Fox production in Asia? Or first production from Fox Asia or something like that?

So a film that looks very local...isn't?

dleedlee said...

Yes. I'm pretty excited from what I've heard about it. I'm looking forward to seeing it - eventually. :(

Not sure how you mean local. My sense is it's a series of love stories.

Glenn, kenixfan said...

Oh, I just meant I could see Fox Asia going to Hong Kong and making a big budget wuxia film, for example.

But for their first project they made a film that appears to be uniquely Hong Kong in flavor -- small, local, local personalities in the cast.

That's a good thing, probably.

dleedlee said...

Got ya, Echoes of the Rainbow sounds more HK-centric, though. Anyway, can't wait to see both.

re: FIP
(2.12.2010)
“Hot Summer Days” was produced and financed by Fox International Productions, Star Greater China and Huayi Brothers Media. Fox and Star are owned by News Corp., which publishes The Wall Street Journal.

And this:
Twentieth Century Fox International broke new ground this weekend as the overseas distributor and Sanford Panitch's recently formed local co-production venture, Fox International Productions, celebrated the extraordinary success of two local co-productions, MY NAME IS KHAN and HOT SUMMER DAYS. These strong debuts from India (KHAN) and China (HOT SUMMER DAYS) give Fox the exceptional distinction of simultaneously leading the box office in the two most populous countries in the world. With AVATAR's continued hold on the worldwide box office, Fox has captured the box office crown at both the global and the local level.

In China, [where it's already opened] HOT SUMMER DAYS was a firecracker at the box office. The film opened as the #1 local film at the box office this Chinese New Year weekend with an estimated $3.8 million from 1,250 screens. This achievement is even more remarkable in light of the fact that the holiday weekend was crowded with many local titles all vying for the top spot.